Lets have a look at the present Springbok team compared to the one last year

 I posted this thread earlier in the hope that some members will make observations about it - especially since it tries to look at what can be expected in the matches against Australia and New Zealand - but nobody responded.   What do you people think - is the present team stronger than the one we used last eyar in the RC?

 spme good points. but bismarck is nowherr this yesr and wss patheyic this year so far. he hasnt developed in 7 years. puensar im not happy with but he had a teally good gamr on saturdsy so wr will see how it goes on saturday. de allende is way better than jj, taute and pietersen. 

 Depending on which team is picked I think the forwards will match up pretty well but I don't think either NZ or Oz are going to have concerns regarding the backs. I can't see the centre pairing causing much pain in attack and think a free running team will open your back line up. Of course you never know what le Roux will come up with and Habana has the pace that could catch out oz slow wings but I just cannot see the Bok backs dominating. I will be very interested in which 10 starts against Australia. If Pollard does not shine this weekend my money will be on Morne to start which will suit us just fine.

 Gonzo
Do you think the team is stronger than the one which played at Ellis Park?

One can look at your question two ways...in terms of individuals, or in terms of team life cycle. If we take the latter view more players are approaching the end of their careers, than are moving into the optimal mid career phase. The failures of so many young players since the RWC has robbed us of a group of ascending 24 year olds.
So while many of our older players are still our best players, it's hard to argue the team is getting better. Still last year we were good enough barring some unfortunate twists of fate against NZ. We should be competitive again this year.

 Mozart
Lookinmng at your comments I assume you are referring to the following players nearing the nd of their careers:-
*   Bryan Habana*   Jean de Villiers*   Ruam Piemaar*   Juan Smith*   Jannie du Plessis
The real ancients Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha are not in the list of players evaluated.  We have better younger locks who are far superior than the mentioned 2 are at this stage of their careers in any event - so that is not a catastrophe.
Of the above Bryan Habana amd Jeen de Villiers are difficult to replace..   Ruan Pienaar is a serious questiuon mark and the hot pot favourite Fourie du Preez was also invisible in the  test at Ellis Park.   He is showing serious signs of decline in any event.
We have more than enough  7's who are better than the two reputation players Juan Smith and Willem Alberts - so the number 7 loosie position is not  a national crisis.
On Boots and  All last nnight the story of the scrums took precendece and there was some real hard talk about it.   Three issues were raised, namely -
*    the fact that what happened on Saturday was not a unique situation and that it happened before in the case of the Springboks as well as the Sharks;
*    the fact that Beast was coming back from an injury and that there was question marks about his match fitness; and 
*    the fact that the role of the locks in scrumming is  problematic.   
The issue was furhter illustrated by th fact that in the second half the scrumming in fact got better  and that it may have been that the forwards adjusted better to the slippery underfoot conditions.   
But that brings me back to Jannie du Plessis.   Jannie this year was a jigsaw puxxle - at times solid - at other times not so.   His role outside scrumming was never positive.    All in all difficult - but not impossible to replace.
Your idea about younger players are often enough biased and prejudiced  - they are better than you credit them as being and when they played they produce better results than what you give them credit for.   
However, the issue is not longer term - the question is - is the present team on Saturday better than the one which played last year in the Ellis Park test and I think they are.   That could be confirmed by what happens on Saturday - bearing in mind that the away win last year in Argentina was not convincing at all and that the Springboks was sub=par in that game.  
If we do better in the away game against Argentina than we did in the two away games in 2012 and 2013 it may give us an indication as to what  in fact is the case,  

 This is a solid side. Better than that of last year. Having said that, some players are not in the best form at the moment, (Jannie, Beast, Bizzie) but I hope they get that sorted out with the extra motivation of playing against NZ or Aus.  

 The sharks front row is struggling due to being overplayed. I think Bissie will bounce back and jannie will be solid in the  scrums. Strauss and malherbe hopefully can come on early in the second half. One doesnt know really what state Beast is in and how the injury has healed etc.Two locks are a better combo. If Juan performs to media reports re NH thsn that will be a big improvement.Du preez is better than Pienaar and reianch hould ahve started this game. Pollard looks to be a better attacking player but isa test novice. Allende is better than JJ but Jean is short of game time. Hendricks is quicker than JP and more dangerous on attack but not as good defensively. Bryan is still going great guns and Willie is better as his taking of the high ball and defence has improved.How good Steenkamp is will be seen this week end.
Not at all a bad side. Some dangerous back that will make Oz and Nz think. Add in Reinach and we are really in business.  A commanding performance against a very difficult Pumas side would see us emmerge as very seriosu contenders for the RC.
What is great is that the players will be tested. Meyer should have a better idea as to whom should play against oz.
Go Bokke we want a 5 pointer.

 bissie is posting the sae numbers as last year and the year before that. not much difference. ill say this much his super campaign was better than every other season. not great but better. but he still cant do the goods at test level. time to let go of the myth.

yeah the locks are better now.

beenbag pollard offers nothing on attack that morne doesnt. what does everyone keep harping on about 10. why god damn it! it just dont add up at all. stupid stupid stupid!

 Mike, take up gardening!  At least there you could work the shit into the ground and it will make it better.  Here unfortunately the shit you sprout is believed in the most by you only.  Fuck, I still have difficulty  deciding who is dumb and who is dumber between you and Saffex dude.

Gonz ou 10 is, as Moz rightly said, the most important position on the field. Pollard sparking could be huge for us. Oh that Reinach had been given a chance! Fastest scrummie in the world? Have two halfbacks that can attack. Man behind a strong back that could be very significant.
Machie dont imagine you speak for the whole board nutter - sounds delsional.  Mike and and Saffex make this an interesting board as they do not follow the crowd. Snapster language needs to improve of course! 
Given the brevity of your presence on the board your rage seems disproportionate.

 10 is not the most important player on the field you bloated bag of stuffing! 3 is most important in scrum, locks for linout. blindise for carries, openside for fetching, 9 for ball distribution, centres to attack, wings to interweave in ataack. you see its all an interconnected relationship one relies on others. 10 cant save you poepol!

 I am just so glad that the responsibility of picking a Springbok side is not my responsibility.  If Meyer picked 15 cyborgs with super human strength then some people who call themself fans will still complain.  Some of the players are lame-ducks and are clearly picked because there just is no one better for the job at the moment.

What we as fans must do is support the guys - hell Meyer is not going to take notice of the hot air we blow on an obscure internet site somewhere in no mans land.

Come guys they need our support - May Allah have mercy on you, me and the horrible world. Salaam.

 i support the team not matter what nlike mika and spandex but facts is he sucks the big one

 Serfontein is a good replacement for De Villiers. Senatla seems to be showing some decent promise, he even idolises Habana and has based his play off him so who knows.

 serfontein is pretty average.. not better than jean that says alot

I agree let's see what Senatla can do, he looks very forceful. I doubt Serfontein will be a long term answer. The great centres explode on the scene....young.
 

 Bonzo
The issue is that rugby is a team game and tnot an individual contest.   The situation is that the tight 5 combination and not an indifidual player is the key in scrums and line outs.   The bbackline strategic determinator is the pivot at 10 - why is he called that by everybody in the know if he is not as you say?   Our situation deteriorates since we have had some really poor tens in the past - the worst having been Morne Steyn.   That really destroyed the functioning of and  the role of the 10 in backline play. 

Good Post Mike, 
I was thinking of starting a similar thread the other day, but would have been more around the average age of the team. We have some really good youngsters given another 2 - 4 years will be great for SA rugby. We also have a lot of players over the age of 30 or nearing to that age in key positions. If you take Meyers perfect starting 15 barring injuries then you will notice that we have hardly any player between 26 - 29. The perfect age for a test player. Enough caps under their belt but still enough in the tank to keep up with the pace of the game. It is a know fact that men over 30 struggle to keep up their cardio and need to work harder and play smarter. 
My ideal starting 15 based on age would be 
20 - 24 = 225 - 29 = 1030+      = 3
That makes for a well balanced side. I would keep more youngsters on the bench to get them in the game and never select a player over 30 on the bench. 
But the problem we have now is that all of those player in the 25 - 29 bracket are either playing for foreign clubs or never really good enough to continue to play. 
I blame Pieter De Villiers for not being able to built a decent team and structures for player development. I also think John Smit and co are to blame for keep promising players out of the team and robbing them of further exposure. They team of 2007 was good up to 2009 but we need to make a transition from that point but never did. 
Now we are still using these guys and they are in the 30's. 
So I think Meyer has done a good job and bring in the youngsters to try and get them up to speed and still trying to win. 

 To make things a bit interesting. Here is the players that Meyer has chosen over the last 3 years. I have picked the 15 which I think Meyer preferred 15 would like. Used the players that he chose now for Saturday and players in his current squad with a few historical selections. I think that we are really short on the wings and 15
  Meyers Pick First Backup 2nd Backup 1 Beast 29 Steenkamp 33 Nyakane 25 2 Bismark 30 Strauss 28 Brits 33 3 Jannie 31 Malherbe 23 Coenie 25 4 Etzebeth 22 Bakkies 34 PSDT 22 5 Matfield 37 Lood 21 Lewies 22 6 Louw 29 Coetzee 23 Burger 33 7 Alberts 30 Smith 33 Mohoje 24 8 Vermeulen 28 Whiteley 26 Spies 29 9 Du Preez 32 Pienaar 30 Reinach 24 10 Steyn 30 Pollard 20 Lambie 23 11 Habana 31 Mvovo 28 Hougaard 26 12 De Villiers 33 Serfontein 21 Steyn 28 13 Jaque Fourie 32 De Allende 22 JJ 25 14 JP 28 Hendricks 26     15 Le Roux 25 Kirchener 30    

 JPs days are over but as you say historical. at 15 we have willie and kirchner and marais will come along. maybe mvovo could do a job. goosen probably is really a fullback. on the wings we have alot of options for speed but hendricks looks the part to me. no trouble there in my opinion if you want pace and hands. but habana is the best most complete package there has ever been so thats impossible to replace. we are really short of 3s and 13s. and 12s are not great either but frans and jean will do the job. we really need de allende to succeed or we are in trouble times.

 Bonzo the Apemoron
Stillt alking about Kirchner - what a fool we have here.   Kir ccxhner was not a dull back of substance o he was utterly useless and his replacement by Le Roux was a godsend.  
JP suffers from the same fate of some of our backline players - loss of speed - but he is still a very good and striong ball-carrier.  Fransie is the one that has lost pace  completely as well - he was a disaster at 12 in 2012 for the Springboks and worse for the Sharks in 2013 and 2014 and is not suitable to play in any center position. So he is not an answer for anything.   In fact trhe greatest backline saboteur ever.   To have him in the team is a bad joke.